Two owners of massage parlors in Ventura and Los Angeles counties are facing felony charges that they pimped out their employees.
Shuzhi Fan, 47, and Qiuju Jia, 43, face felony charges of pimping and pandering, as well as a special allegation that the crime was done in a sophisticated manner, the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office said Monday. The women have pleaded not guilty.
Fan, a Thousand Oaks woman who owns Xinyi Massage in that city, was first investigated in May for “profiting from” what prosecutors described in a news release as “commercial sex activity.”
“Further investigation revealed two additional massage parlor businesses, VIP Massage in Arcadia (also owned by Fan) and H Massage in Calabasas (owned by Jia) were also engaging in prostitution activity,” prosecutors said.
Fan and Jia, a Temple City resident, were working together, prosecutors said. Fan was arrested Tuesday and Jia on Wednesday.
Both are being held at the Todd Road Jail in lieu of $20,000 bail and are due to appear in Ventura County Superior Court on Sept. 18.